Biden Announces Indictment in Wilmington Shooting Death

Wilmington – Attorney General Beau Biden today announced that his office has secured an indictment charging Antione Anderson with murder and other crimes committed in Wilmington in the early morning hours of October 2, 2011.

The October 8, 2012 indictment against Anderson, age 27, charges him with multiple offenses committed that October night on the City’s east side. The charges represent four separate acts that began with an altercation with two individuals at a residence and continued with the murder of 39 year-old Ernie Cole who was shot as he stood on a sidewalk in the area of 17th and Thatcher Streets. The indictment also charges Anderson with firing another shot that entered a nearby residence where a woman and her child were sleeping and the assault of another pedestrian. Anderson has been charged with:

· One count of First Degree Murder

· Three counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony

· One count of Aggravated Menacing

· One count of Reckless Endangering

· One count of Assault Third Degree

· One count of Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited

“I want to recognize the hard work of the Wilmington Police Department, my staff, and the cooperation of members of our community whose efforts led to this indictment,” Biden said.

Anderson is currently incarcerated in Philadelphia where he is being held on a violation of probation related to a Pennsylvania conviction. Officials have begun efforts to extradite him to Delaware for prosecution.

The Delaware Department of Justice reminds the public that an indictment is merely an allegation and is not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a jury trial at which the state bears the burden of proving each charge beyond a reasonable doubt.